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Message-ID: <326C1B1E.DC7@kaiwan.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 16:53:55 -0800
From: Greg Raven
Reply-To: ihrgreg@kaiwan.com
Organization: Institute for Historical Review
Subject: IHR press release - Oct 21, 1996
INSTITUTE FOR HISTORICAL REVIEWP.O. Box 2739, Newport Beach, CA 92659,
USA
Tel. 714 - 631 1490. Fax: 714 - 631 0981
E-mail: ihrgreg@kaiwan.com
NEWS RELEASE
October 21, 1996
Contact: Mark Weber or Greg Raven
EMBEZZLEMENT CASE SET FOR TRIAL OCT. 28
Millions Stolen from
Revisionist History Institute, Police Say
Trial is set to begin October 28 in a multi-million dollar embezzlement
lawsuit brought against former associates by the parent corporation of
the Institute for Historical Review.
Legion for the Survival of Freedom, Inc. (LSF), parent corporation of
the Institute, charges that Willis A. Carto and Henry Fischer, both
acting as "agents" for LSF, stole millions of dollars meant to further
the Institute's work. This money is from the estate of American-born
woman, Jean Farrel, who died in Switzerland in 1984.
This LSF civil lawsuit (No. N64584), filed on July 22, 1994, is set for
trial on Monday morning, October 28, at 9:00 a.m., in Superior Court,
Dept. E, north San Diego County, at the government center in Vista,
California. It is assigned to Judge Murphy.
Carto, 70, a resident of Escondido (Calif.), is founder and chief of
Liberty Lobby, a Washington, DC-based "populist" institution. Other
co-defendants in the LSF suit include Carto's wife, Elisabeth, the
Liberty Lobby, and LaVonne and Lewis Furr of Hot Springs.
Institute for Historical Review (IHR), a "revisionist history" think
tank with offices in Costa Mesa that has been criticized for publishing
books and articles contending that numerous World War II Holocaust
claims are exaggerated or untrue.
Carto has admitted personally taking $500,000 in LSF funds, supposedly
to compensate for "personal expenses," and that $1.65 million in LSF
assets have been transferred to Liberty
Lobby, which he controls and from which he draws a salary. Carto has
also claimed that millions of dollars in LSF assets from the Farrel
estate belong to him personally.
Representing Carto and the other defendants in this case are Newport
Beach attorneys Randall Waier and Brian Urtnowski (Tel. 714-545 6060).
Representing LSF are Century City attorneys Jacques Beugelmans and
Thomas Musselman
Also representing Carto in this case has been Liberty Lobby attorney
Mark Lane, author of two best-selling books on the Kennedy
assassination. (In 1978 Lane served as attorney and spokesman for
Jonestown cult community leader Jim Jones.)
Carto and Fischer have been under criminal investigation for
embezzlement by the Costa Mesa police. As part of this investigation,
Costa Mesa and San Diego police raided the Carto and Fischer residences
in Escondido and San Marcos on March 22, 1995, seizing a large quantity
of documentary evidence as well as firearms and Nazi memorabilia.
In a "Statement of Probable Cause" provided for the search warrants
issued in the investigation, the Costa Mesa police declared that Carto
and Fischer "have transferred substantial sums of LSF monies to other
entities without the knowledge, permission or authority of the
management of LSF..." The police further declared that Carto, Fischer
and others "conspired to unlawfully seize custody and control of the
premises and records of LSF for the purpose of concealing or destroying
evidence of their crimes and preventing exposure to law enforcement
authorities and the courts."
Fischer has left the United States and is now living in Europe. In March
1976 he fled from Australia after making off with $500,000 as an
intermediary between Iraqi officials and representatives of the
Australian Labor Party.
Carto's association with LSF/IHR was terminated by the LSF Board of
Directors in September 1993. Since then, he has refused to turn over
corporate assets or records to the lawful officers and directors.
Carto sought unsuccessfully to gain control of LSF/ IHR in a lawsuit,
Kerr, Carto v. Legion (No. 720973), which came before Orange County
Superior Court Judge Robert J. Polis in December 1993. "Willis Carto was
exercising substantial control over the Legion [LSF] without any
apparent legal authority," Judge Polis stated in his Dec. 31, 1993,
ruling. (This ruling was upheld by a California Appeals Court on August
28, 1996.)
Carto insists that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Church of
Scientology are behind his troubles, and that the IHR has been taken
over and is now controlled by Zionists and agents of Israel and the CIA.
He repeats these and similar claims in the weekly Liberty Lobby tabloid,
The Spotlight.
Carto has failed in efforts to derail the criminal investigation against
him and Fischer, including two unsuccessful courtroom efforts to quash
the search warrants.
Police investigators have publicly confirmed that documents seized in
the searches further corroborate the case against Carto and Fischer.
Costa Mesa police investigator Larry Rooker testified for about three
hours on June 15, 1995, about information he had provided to Harbor
Municipal Court Judge Susanne Shaw as the basis for the search warrants.
Rooker reaffirmed to the court his conviction that Carto and Fischer are
criminals, and that LSF officers Mark Weber and Tom Marcellus had acted
in good faith in bringing information to the police.
Michelle Vadon, attorney for Rooker and the City of Costa Mesa, says
that evidence taken in the police search "does support the allegations
of embezzlement, in our opinion" (Newport Beach Daily Pilot, June 16,
1995). Summing up the legal wrangle, Vadon commented: Carto "seems to
think the best defense is a strong offense: file a civil rights suit,
challenge the warrant, sue everyone and maybe they'll go away. But we're
not going to go away. There is no doubt. The documents are very clear...
Carto took the money." (Los Angeles Times, June 16, 1995)
------------------------------------
--
Greg Raven (ihrgreg@kaiwan.com)
PO Box 10545, Costa Mesa, CA 92627
http://www.kaiwan.com/~ihrgreg

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